armstrong



Patented Mar. 23, 1897.

1W $R E I R A. DAVIDSON SE C. G. ARMSTRONG. ELEOTRIG TIME UHEGK AND RECORDER.

(No Model) ads ATTORNEYS.

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WITNESSES WM UNITED STATES rrrcn.

ALEXANDER DAVIDSON, OE NE'W YORK, N. Y., AND CHARLES C. ARMSTRONG, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS; SAID ARMSTRONG ASSIGNOR TO SAID DAVIDSON.

ELEGTRiC TEME CHECK AND RECORDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 579,473, dated March 23, 1897.

Application filed Jan ry 25, 1896. Serial No. 576,843. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern: plication. These magnets, through the arma- Be it known that we, ALEXANDER DAVID- .tures C springs C pawls C and ratchet- SON, of New York, in the county of New York wheels C on the hands C of the clock-dial, and State of New York, and CHARLES C. impartan exactlyequal rotary motiontothese 55 5 ARMSTRONG, of Chicago, in the county of Cook hands. These dials have insulated contactand State of Illinois, have invented a new and plates distributed. around their faces and useful Improvement in Electric Time Checks corresponding in number to the whole numand Recorders, of which the following is a ber of tickets to be sold and numbered acspecification. cordingly and acting as commutator-plates 60 IO Our invention is in the nature of an elecwith the revolving hand.

tric time check and recorder designed,mainly, At each station there is an annunciator havfor the special use hereinafter indicated, but ing a series of ticket-holders 7L 7L, correspondapplicable also to other uses. ing in number to the commutator-plates.

In another application fora patent filed by Each ticket-holder has an electromagnet D, 6 us of even date herewith we have described bearing a contact-spring (I, connected to one and shown an electric ticket-selling device in of its terminals and controlling a drop-shutwhich reserved-seat tickets could be sold at ter several different points Without interference E is a push-button whose stem has a small and in which the parts are so organized by front part c and an enlarged middle part, the 70 means of a series of annunciators, synchromiddle of which 0 is of brass, with non-connized clocks, and commutators that the sale of ducting hubs c c on opposite sides, and whose any ticket at any station immediately and au rear end is surrounded by a spring 6 that tomatioally transmits a signal to the annun pushes it forward. A head e in its rear end ciators of the other stations, causing a drop to is adapted to engage a latch f on the arma- 7 5 fall that indicates to each of these stations ture l and be locked byit in its pushed-in that a certain ticket has been sold, and hence position. is not to be sold by them again. Our present G and G are batteries, and g g are contact invention is an extension and development of springs beneath the push-button. this idea,in which a permanent record is made Now when a ticket is to be sold, say at sta- 8o of the sales of tickets and the time thereof and tion No. 1, push-button E is forced in and the also a record of any error (and the time thercsprin 72, of jaw h drops down onto the small of)such, for instance, as that made by two part c of the stem and releases the grip of agents pulling tickets bearing the same nu mthe jaw on the ticket, so that it can be pulled ber and also, further,whereby a continuous out. As the push-button goes in its rear end 8 5 3 5 record is made of the proper synchronism of is caught and held by latch f of armature F the clocks, which synchronism is essential to and is left for a moment with springs (Z and the success of the whole system. g connected through the brass hub e, and

Our invention consists in the peculiar inthe current from battery G then flows as folstruinentalities for carrying out these results, lows: from the positive side of battery G to 90 as will be hereinafter fully described with ref- 1' to electromagnet R, back through r to erence to the drawing, in which the figure is contact-spring g, and thence exactly as a diagram view of two stations with their anshown in our previous applicationi. 6., to nunciators, synchronous clocks, time-recordc, spring (Z, magnet D, (dropping shutter B ers, and batteries. to wire 17, commutator-plate 6, hand C, line- 5 5 C C are two clock-dials at two different stawire 16 18 19 to hand C of the next station tions, having two heads C C, revolving in and (this hand being in perfect synchronism synchronism under the influence of a single with the other hand) through commutatormaster-elock, (not shown,) and an electric plate 6, wire 17, magnet D, spring (Z, and circuit closed by the master-clock at regular (push-button being out) through brass e, to ICC and short intervals through the magnets A spring g, wire 13, to line 2, back to 1 and the A as more fully shown in our previous apnegative side of the battery. The result will be that magnet D at station No. 2 will be energized to drop its shutter simultaneously with that at the selling-station, and this gives an indication to the remote station that a ticket (No. 6, as shown) has been sold. At the same time that this indication is given to the remote station the electromagnet R at the selling-station is energized, and its elongated armature '2', bearing a pencil or a point, makes a dot on the revolving dial X of an ordinary watchmans clock, and the succession of these dots at closer or more remote intervals shows the time of the sales of the tickets during the day, showing at what time during the day the most tickets are sold and recording the sale of every ticket at that station. Beside the same dial X here is another electromagnet S, which is intended to record an interference between two stations, if by chance two agents at different points should draw out tickets of the same number. A separate line-wire s and battery B are used for this, and one jaw 7L of the ticket-holder is connected by shunt-wire 5 direct to wire 17, (without going through the magnet D.) The other jaw h is connected by wire 8 to magnet S, and thence bys to battery B. New itbein g understood. that the two jaws h 7t at each station are made the terminals of the circuit of battery B, and that it is necessary that both pairs of jaws should be closed by the simultaneous (or successive) withdrawal of the ticket bearing the same number at two stations in order to close this circuit, the following result takes place: 'When two such tickets are withdrawn and the two pairs of jaws h h close said circuit, the current flows from positive pole of battery B to s, magnet 8, wire 5 jaw 7i, jaw 77,, shunt-wire 5 wire 17, plate 6, hand O, line-wire 16 18 19 to the other station, (No. 2,) to hand 0, plate 6, wire 17, shunt-wire .9 through jaws 7L h, wire 5 magnet S, wire 5, to the negative side of battery B, causing the magnets S at each station to operate their armatures and record the time of such interference upon the revolving dials X.

Anotherfeatnre, and one of the greatest inn portance, is the means for determining constantly the accurately-operative conditions of the several synchronized clocks G C. The whole system, it will be remembered, is predicated upon the necessity of havingevery hand C in its revolution touch any one plate 6 at the same instant of time that every other hand touches its corresponding plate 6, and if for any reason these hands should get out of synchronism this fact should be instantly known and the discrepancy corrected.

To instantly advise the agent of such lack of synchronism, we provide the electromagnet T and its armature t, which latter is eX- tended to the dial and provided with a pencil or a point, and which, during the accurate and normal operation of the system, vibrates constantly, making a succession of dots on the dial, but which, if the hands 0 0 get out of synchronism, instantly ceases to vibrate.

To accomplish the desired result, each synchronous-clock dial is provided with a special commutator-plate 0 which has no connection with the annunciator and ticket-selling devices, but is connected by a wire t with the magnet T, the other side of the magnet being connected, through wire I. s, with the battery I It now the commutator-hand G touches the plate 0 at the same instant at each sta tion, the magnet T will be worked and a dot recorded, but if they do not touch at the same instant the magnets T cease to vibrate.

Assuming the circuit to be closed through c and t at the same instant at both stations, the current will flow as follows: from the positive side of battery B to wires 5 and t, to magnet T of station No. 1, wire plate 0 hand 0, line 1O 18 10, to hand 0 of the other station, to plate 0 wire magnet T of that station, and through wires '6 s to the negative side of battery 13, and, the current being closed simultaneously at both stations through plates a both magnets T will vibrate at each closure and register a dot through its armature t on the dia X; butif one hand 0 is in advance of or behind the other then this circuit cannot be completed, for it must be closed at both points 0 at the same time. The result will be that just as soon as the clocks get out of synchronism the magnet T will apprise the agent of that fact by ceasing to vibrate its armature, and the time at which this occurred will be recorded by the dial.

Although mainly intended for use with the ticket'sellin g system, we would state that some of the features of this device may be used for other purposes. Thus, for instance,

the device for noting the lack of synchronism in clocks is broadly applicable, and we do not limit ourselves to the special application shown.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination with a set of synchronized clocks; of a battery-circuit and electromagnet with pointed armature, a watchmans time-dial arranged beneath the armature to be acted upon thereby, a special commutatorplate arranged on each of the synchronous clocks and connected to said circuit, whereby the same is closed and a record made by the magnet-armature when the clocks are in. synehronism, and the record is discontinued when the clocks are out of synchronism substantially as and for the purpose described.

A ticket-selling device, comprising a set of ann unciators,ticketholdcrs controlling the same, synchronized clocks and commutators with batteries and circuit-wires arranged as described to indicate automatically to a remote station the sale of any ticket at the selling-station, in combination with a device for detecting a lack of synchronism in the clocks substantially as shown and described.

A ticket-selling device comprising a set of annunciators, synchronized clocks and commutators with batteries and circuit-Wires arranged as described to indicate automatically to a remote station the sale of any ticket at the selling-station; in combination with a Watchmans time-dial, and a magnet and armature operating upon the same and placed Within a loop of the main operating-circuit for the purpose of recording the tickets sold and the times thereof substantially as and for the purpose described.

4. A ticket-selling device comprising a set of annunciators, synchronized clocks and commutatorsgvith batteries and circuit-wires arranged as described to indicate automatically to a remote station the sale of any ticket at the selling-station; in combination with a scribed.

ALEXANDER DAVIDSON. CHARLES G. ARMSTRONG. Witnesses:

EDW. W. BYRN, SoLoN C. KEMON. 

